Florida School Again Tops Bargain Survey : Education: For the third year in a row, New College is rated the best value. In-state tuition is $2,066.

New College of the University of South Florida, a tiny liberal arts school tucked away in Sarasota, again beat the likes of Harvard and Yale to rank as the best college value in the nation.

For the third year running, New College topped Money magazine’s list of the top 100 college buys.

High academic standards and its attractive bay-side campus aside, New College won because it provides an affordable education for its 560-odd students, Money says in a special issue, “Money Guide: Your Best College Buys Now,” released Wednesday.

Tuition at New College increased $7 this year for out-of-state freshmen to $7,950, compared to an average tuition increase of 6.5% nationwide.

New College, a member of the University of South Florida system, charges Floridians just $2,066 in annual tuition.

Rice University, the Texas school that boasts the 10th-largest endowment in the nation, came in at No. 2. Like New College, Rice held on to its ranking for a third straight year.

Northeast Missouri State University ranked third in the glossy financial monthly’s survey, followed by New Jersey’s Trenton State College and Caltech at No. 5.

Rounding out the top 10 are University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, State University of New York at Binghamton, Georgia’s Spelman College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and State University of New York at Albany.

“Seven of Money’s 10 best college values are public schools, up from six a year ago,” the magazine said.

“This is great news for students who live in the same states as these schools,” it said, “because their families will pay bargain in-state rates that are even lower than the fees for out-of-state students on which our rankings are based.”

Besides the top 10, some big names appear lower down on Money’s list. Harvard University ranks 43rd, Yale University is 46th and Columbia University is 97th.

Pomona College is No. 100.

Money’s list of best buys was garnered by looking at 16 measures of educational quality--such as entrance exam results and four-year graduation rates--and comparing them to tuition and fees.

The magazine said its ranking excludes colleges with strong religious requirements.

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Top College Deals

The top 100 college values in the nation, according to a study by Money magazine.

1. New College of the Univ. of South Florida

2. Rice Univ. (Tex.)

3. Northeast Missouri State Univ.

4. Trenton State College (N.J.)

5. Caltech

6. Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

7. State Univ. of New York at Binghamton

8. Spelman College (Ga.)

9. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10. State Univ. of New York at Albany

11. Rutgers Univ.-New Brunswick (N.J.)

12. St. Mary’s College of Maryland

13. Univ. of Texas-Austin

14. Hanover College (Ind.)

15. Georgia Institute of Technology

16. State Univ. of New York-College at Geneseo

17. Univ. of Florida

18. James Madison Univ. (Va.)

19. Miami Univ. (Ohio)

20. Hendrix College (Ark.)

21. Univ. of Washington

22. Texas A&M; Univ.-College Station

23. Auburn Univ. (Ala.)

24. Univ. of Georgia

25. Wake Forest Univ. (N.C.)

26. Univ. of Virginia

27. Florida State Univ.

28. Mary Washington College (Va.)

29. Clemson Univ. (S.C.)

30. Fisk Univ. (Tenn.)

31. Hillsdale College (Mich.)

32. Ottawa Univ. (Kan.)

33. Washington and Lee Univ. (Va.)

34. Univ. of South Carolina-Columbia

35. Univ. of Iowa

36. Howard Univ. (Washington, D.C.)

37. Siena College (N.Y.)

38. Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

39. Trinity Univ. (Tex.)

40. State Univ. of New York-College at Fredonia

41. St. Bonaventure Univ. (N.Y.)

42. Emory and Henry College (Va.)

43. Harvard Univ. (Mass.)

44. State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook

45. UC Berkeley

46. Yale Univ. (Conn.)

47. State Univ. of New York at Buffalo

48. Drury College (Mo.)

49. Univ. of the South (Tenn.)

50. College of William and Mary (Va.)

51. Creighton Univ. (Neb.)

52. Univ. of Delaware

53. Le Moyne College (N.Y.)

54. New Jersey Institute of Technology

55. Wabash College (Ind.)

56. Pennsylvania State Univ.

57. Furman Univ. (S.C.)

58. UCLA

59. Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.)

60. Southwestern Univ. (Tex.)

61. Berry College (Ga.)

62. Univ. of Minnesota-Twin Cities

63. Univ. of Cincinnati (Ohio)

64. State Univ. of New York-College at Plattsburgh

65. St. John’s Univ. (N.Y.)

66. William Jewell College (Mo.)

67. Assumption College (Mass.)

68. Illinois College

69. UC Davis

70. Univ. of Missouri-Columbia

71. Transylvania Univ. (Ky.)

72. Rutgers Univ.-Camden (N.J.)

73. Chestnut Hill College (Pa.)

74. North Carolina State Univ.

75. Johns Hopkins Univ. (Md.)

76. UC Irvine

77. Grinnell College (Iowa)

78. Virginia Polytechnic Institute

79. State Univ. of New York-College at Oneonta

80. Central College (Iowa)

81. Wofford College (S.C.)

82. Humboldt State Univ. (Calif.)

83. St. Vincent College (Pa.)

84. Dartmouth College (N.H.)

85. Claremont McKenna College (Calif.)

86. Austin College (Tex.)

87. Nebraska Wesleyan Univ.

88. Nazareth College of Rochester (New York)

89. UC Riverside

90. Harvey Mudd College (Calif.)

91. Thomas More College (Ky.)

92. Loyola Univ. (La.)

93. Univ. of Pittsburgh (Pa.)

94. Northwestern Univ. (Ill.)

95. Carroll College (Mont.)

96. Univ. of Maryland-College Park

97. Columbia Univ. (New York)

98. Stonehill College (Mass.)

99. Millsaps College (Miss.)

100. Pomona College (Calif.)